Woodcut from Buch der Natur by Konrad of Megenberg (1309-1374). Konrad was a German Catholic scholar, and was one of the most prolific German writers of the fourteenth century. His best-known and most widely read work is his "Buch der Natur", which is still of importance for the history of culture. According to his own statement he was engaged in writing it in 1349. The work gives a survey of all that was known of natural history at that time and is, besides, the first natural history in the German language. It was widely read up to the sixteenth century.